Thursday, May 5, 2016

Savannah: Houses and Squares

We began our second and final day in Savannah with a short
stroll--everything is close here--to the Owens-Chambers house on Oglethorpe
Square. The house was designed in 1819 by the young London architect William
Jay for Richard Richardson, who soon lost it. It was a boarding house when the
Marquis de Lafayette stayed here in 1825. In 1830 it came into the Owens family
which held it for almost a century and a quarter before turning it over
Savannah’s Telfair Museum in 1951.

Jay was an up and coming architect of 24 when he designed
the house and he incorporated some novel features into it, like indoor
plumbing. It is said to be the finest piece of Regency architecture in the
city. It certainly is worth the visit, though they do not, once more, permit
indoor photography.

The Owens-Chambers House from the front

One unique feature was the existence of urban slave quarters, seen here from the back of the house

The back of the house

After that there were a couple of possible stops. The house
belonging to the family of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the girl scouts was
a possibility, but Sharon was drawn more to the girlhood home of Flannery
O’Connor. They allowed photography and to make things even better our tour
guide had known the family.

We decided next to go over to Mickve Israel, the city’s
oldest synagogue, but were too late to tour.

On both days, lunch, God help us, was at Leopold's ice cream. They tout themselves as one of the best and they are, on a par with Herrell's last year in Northampton, Massachusetts

Lutheran Church of the Ascension

After that there were a couple of possible stops. The house
belonging to the family of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the girl scouts was
a possibility, but Sharon was drawn more to the girlhood home of Flannery
O’Connor. They allowed photography and to make things even better our tour
guide had known the family.

On Saturdays young Mary here in the bathroom and read to them, sometimes the works of others, sometimes her own juvenalia.

Monument to Casimir Pulaski, a Polish hero and martyr to the Revolution

We decided next to go over to Mikveh Israel, the city’s
oldest synagogue, but were too late to tour.

If I recall correctly this is the Andrew Low house, where Juliette Gordon Low lived for a time and where her Girl Scouts were first headquartered